Monday, July 8, 2013

A Renewed Faith

Hello all,
first things first, so i would like to start with a short introduction about myself, which seems reasonable, right ?

As you can see, my name is Richard, I'm 41 years old and live over in very ever-changing climate of The Netherlands, Europe.

My interests were, since the age of 23, into Buddhism, Daoism and martial arts.For some reason that has always been the thin red line in my life, and things would always reoccur on my path towards spiritual growth.
At some point ( i believe this was in my end 30's) i came across Nichiren Buddhism and found that the nam myoho renge kyo was a part of this.
I had learned about nam myoho renge kyo by my martial arts teacher, who used to recite it 3 times after training sessions, just to clear the mind from trouble and the physical pain.

I ended up with SGI, attended gongyo and meetings and learned a some stuff on Nichiren.
This went on and on, until i found myself working shifts, meaning i couldn't always attend meetings.
Another thing that came to disturb me was the constant battle and arguing between Nichiren Shu and SGI about pervert priests and the likes.
I decided to step out of it and went independent for some time.

Upon trying to explain this to people who were still related to sgi, i found that there was no room for my opinion, no room for any discussion, there was only room for Ikeda and attending meetings and if possible, make donations.

That was a the sign for me that sgi wasn't so happy with people thinking for themselves, i got over sgi pretty soon and moved ahead for myself and had no intention to join any organisation ever.

Until last year when i was still searching to find the right path, i ran into this site, contacted the person and got a reply.
I had ran into the Kempon Hokke.

The man introducing me to the Kempon told me there were several ways to practice, that appealed to me since i am not the kind of person to follow blindly or just to do as i'm told.

I got a Sutrabook document and a gohonzon ready for print and use.
First thing i did was to print out the gohonzon na dgot off reciting and perform gongyo.
It felt better than ever before, since there was no pressure on me, no people telling me i had to attend meetings nobody asking me for money, it was a complete relief.

I went on doing gongyo during that year , sometimes a day in between, sometimes morning, sometimes afternoon and sometimes before bed.

March 1st this year, i made a final decision, i submitted the declaration of faith and officially joined the Kempon.
Believe it or not , but even just to commit oneself to the Buddha Shakyamuni, the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Daishonin makes such a differenece in ones life.
I have already experienced proof of faith and practice several times.

Now, to me being with Kempon Hokke feels like being among minds alike, obviously.
I do owe gratitude to the people who helped me out by sending me pdf's to read, who chant with me during the monthly Sangha (community) meetings, to the man introducing me to the Kempon Hokke, and of course Rev. Tsuchiya, who takes the time to answer my questions and provides every one with study materials and leaves us with enough freedom to do things our own way.

Now since this is my first blog for the Kempon, i do sincerely hope that my writing is understandable and easy to read.